Moultrie artist Jean Gay to receive national award from DAR

Published 11:03 am Wednesday, May 4, 2016

MOULTRIE, Ga. — The National Society Daughters of the Revolution, Washington D. C., has chosen Jean Eaton Gay, of Moultrie, to receive the Women in the Arts Recognition Award.  

The recommendation to NSDAR was made by the John Benning Chapter, based in Moultrie, and presentation of the award will be made at the chapter’s spring luncheon May 12.

The purpose of the award is to recognize and honor a woman who has made significant achievements at the community level in her artistic field, according to a press release from the John Benning Chapter. The recipient is expected to have contributed to her artistic field in an outstanding manner beyond mastery of technique. This may include innovative design work, featured exhibitions, publication, research, and technique development.

Although Gay’s primary passion is oil painting, she works in a variety of media including charcoal, ceramics, metal, wood, and textiles. She has been the subject of solo exhibitions in Moultrie at Colquitt County Arts Center, Victoria Evans Memorial Library in Ashburn, and in the gallery of ABAC in Tifton. Her work has been included multiple times in gallery and cultural center group exhibitions and at the Georgia National Fair in Perry.

Gay has received numerous awards in exhibitions, and her work can also be found in private and corporate collections. The literary publication Pegasus at ABAC has included her paintings annually since 2006, with her work on the front cover in 2007. Recently, Gay’s oil painting “Backwaters of Little River” was on display in the office of Gov. Nathan Deal at the Georgia State Capitol, and has since been selected by the governor’s staff to be placed in the House Appropriations suite until October.

As the artist’s work has progressed, she began to explore impressionism and gradually moved beyond traditional art, incorporating abstract qualities to perpetuate and keep her art fresh, the press release said. Gay has produced several series of statement works expressing her concerns for the disability of autism and to champion breast cancer survivorship. In 2016 her breast cancer series was juried into a medically themed exhibition in the Georgia Museum of Agriculture’s gallery, Tifton, alongside never before shown works of famous Georgia artist, Lamar Dodd.

In sharing her abilities with others, Gay designed the annual City of Moultrie Christmas ornament in 2007 and 2015. She also has presented at the Mother-Daughter Tea sponsored by the Moultrie Federated Guild as part of its annual antique show, showing her original artwork and needlework and emphasizing the study of fine arts and the importance of their preservation.

Gay’s fight with cancer was profiled in The Moultrie Observer earlier this year. Click here to read that story.